Vocabulary

Exercise

spare a thought / overtime / hectic / backlog / heading your way

1. There have been numerous studies indicating that people are becoming increasingly forgetful as a result of modern __________ lifestyles. Researchers have labelled the condition "busy lifestyle syndrome", with stress being the possible culprit behind day-to-day memory lapses.

2. As Africa's economic fortunes rise and the continent continues to be charmed by superpowers, __________ for the millions of Africans in faraway lands.

3. Hundreds of thousands of workers may be sitting idly by during the ongoing government shutdown, but comedians are working __________ to find the humour amidst the partisan political turmoil.

4. "We have no safety concerns, however, advice to members of the public is that if smoke is __________, closing your windows would be a good common sense measure."

5. Tom McPhail, the firm's head of pensions research, said it was "extremely sorry for the delays", but was making "significant progress in clearing the __________" and hoped to have all systems running normally again soon.

Answers

Source: How easy is it to forget your children? http://bbc.in/1c8V4Bh

2. As Africa's economic fortunes rise and the continent continues to be charmed by superpowers, spare a thought for the millions of Africans in faraway lands.

5. Tom McPhail, the firm's head of pensions research, said it was "extremely sorry for the delays", but was making "significant progress in clearing the backlog" and hoped to have all systems running normally again soon.